Local Intel: David Kramer

One of my favourite places to go when I want to watch films on the big screen is The Labia Theatre [voted one of the world's most beautiful independent cinemas!]. It first opened as a theatre in 1949 but has been operating as a cinema for the last four decades. I love the convivial atmosphere outside where one can have a snack or a drink and I can chat to people that I know and don’t know.  The old-fashioned ticket office in the foyer is from a bygone era and reminds me of the Scala and 20th Century bioscopes of my childhood in Worcester.

65 Orange Street, Gardens

Just across the road from the Labia is an Italian restaurant called Nonna Lina. They make a good pizza. I usually have the pizza Napoletana, or if I'm going to have pasta, then the Bolognese with prawns and chilli is a favourite.  We have a favourite table, and the waiters don’t need to bring menus because they know what we are going to order!

64 Orange Street, Gardens

Another restaurant that is a special of mine is Vadivelu, high up in Kloof Street. They specialise in South Indian cuisine and describe themselves as ‘Indian with attitude’. I love the way they've decorated this restaurant in a more contemporary style.  The variety of dishes is superb, and I do like the Durban lamb curry.  Staff are knowledgeable, provide good service and are always friendly.

151 Kloof Street, Gardens

I love the visual arts, and occasionally  I pick up a paintbrush myself. There are many lovely and exciting small galleries in the city, but I sometimes travel to the Norval Foundation in Tokai, where the exhibitions focus on art from the continent of Africa. Outside, they also have an impressive sculpture garden and a restaurant.

Spaanschemat Road, Constantia

One of my favourite workplaces is the rehearsal room of a theatre.  I recently rehearsed my musical Orpheus McAdoo, being produced by Cape Town Opera at Artscape Theatre Centre. We worked i n a really superb and generously equipped space. Being able to sit in an empty theatre auditorium and watch the performers going through the technical rehearsals is another favourite spot for me.

D.F. Malan Street, Foreshore

A theatre that is very close to my heart is the Baxter Theatre Centre in Rondebosch, as I have worked there for 40 years. I created many productions there with the late Taliep Petersen and presented many of my early musicals there, both in the Theatre and the Concert Hall. The Baxter has a very generous foyer and a lovely eating and drinking option in their newish La Cuccina restaurant upstairs. Outside is a lovely garden with an enormous tree under which people perform at various times during the summer months.

Main Road, Rondebosch

I recently visited The Cape Town Club for the first time and had a delicious lunch in the dining room. The club has many interesting nooks and crannies and an old-worldly, colonial atmosphere. Upstairs on the third floor, you'll find a vintage bookshop run by James Findlay. It sells collectable books, antique maps and political posters from the apartheid era.  Since childhood, I've been attracted to maps; sometimes drawing my own!

Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town

A Sunday morning often finds us at the Oranjezicht Market at the Waterfront. They are soon to move into their ‘new home’ close by, which will provide better protection during the winter months.  It throngs with locals and visitors. It’s very convenient to have brunch there and to buy tasty snacks like cinnamon buns, chorizo sausage and delicious samoosas, filled with all sorts of unusual fillings. Their organic fruit and vegetables are always beautifully displayed which makes them hard to resist.

V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

A favourite place for quick and casual eating is Make Asian Restaurant in Sea Point. Its charm is that it’s unpretentious and attracts such a variety of people. I am particularly fond of their sweet and sour prawn dish ‘Chinese style’. It is served with a sauce that I first tasted as a student in Leeds. After enjoying a few beers in a pub with friends, we would stop off at what was called the Chinese chippy, and I would buy sweet-and-sour chicken, which was smothered in this sauce.

204 Main Road, Sea Point

A very special time and place for me to visit Camps Bay beach is before sunrise.  The best time is when the full moon is still hanging in the sky over the horizon, before sinking into the Atlantic. It gives me great pleasure to be able to walk along the sand towards Glen Beach when no one else is around.

Victoria Road, Camps Bay